[The following paragraph was effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2002. It was amended, effective for audits of fiscal years beginning on or after December 15, 2010. See PCAOB Release No. 2010-004.

Return to the current version.]

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Reviewing accounting estimates for biases that could result in material misstatement due to fraud. In preparing financial statements, management is responsible for making a number of judgments or assumptions that affect significant accounting estimates fn 24 and for monitoring the reasonableness of such estimates on an ongoing basis. Fraudulent financial reporting often is accomplished through intentional misstatement of accounting estimates. As discussed in section 312.36, the auditor should consider whether differences between estimates best supported by the audit evidence and the estimates included in the financial statements, even if they are individually reasonable, indicate a possible bias on the part of the entity's management, in which case the auditor should reconsider the estimates taken as a whole.